I was DESPERATE tonight for something salty and trashy from my childhood. Yes, tater tot casserole. REALLY trashy and full of everything bad for you. And who the hell said Vegan MoFo had to be healthy anyway? Pffttt!!

BUT of course, I had to try to improve it just a tad right? So here’s what I did: Add a full bag of Daiya cheddar to the veggies along with 2 cups of simple white sauce. Yes, that’s correct, my only improvement was to add more goo ;-P

SnarkyVegan’s Tater Tot Casserole with Daiya® Vegan Cheddar Cheese

This starts with a basic white sauce and then you just dump everything in a casserole and get anal with the arrangement of tater tots. You could probably arrange your tater tots in a decorative pattern but I was in a hurry.

1 bag of tater tots, use only enough to cover the top of the casserole, you may have some left so save them for dipping in BBQ sauce at lunch tomorrow

1 bag of Daiya® cheddar cheese

4 dollops of Earth Balance margarine

Over medium-low heat, create a roux in small saucepan with flour and margarine. When light brown and snappy/bubbly, remove from heat and add soy milk slowly while whisking. Take your time, make sure it’s thoroughly whisked and not lumpy.

Return sauce to medium heat and cook until the sauce thickens. Use a wire whisk constantly as sauce thickens.

Once thickened to coat a spoon, remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

Bake for 1 hour at 375° F. (My oven runs low so I use 400° F so adjust to suit your oven.)

NOTE: I purposefully did not melt the Daiya in the white sauce before compiling the casserole because I wanted to run into bits of cheesy goodness inside the casserole.

TIP: The darker your roux, the less thick it will be, so they say.

You can see the cheesy Daiya bits and the white sauce through the clear glass casserole. I like to use clear glass so I can see what’s going on. Yeah, I prefer escalators to elevators too.MONEY SHOT: Click to see super close! Just LOOK at that oozey goozey sauce! And the colorful veggies. OMG, this reminded me of home for sure.

Yes, you’re right to be suspicious whenever companies use those generalized categories such as natural flavors. But natural flavors doesn’t always mean animal ingredients. Sometimes it is just salt and pepper. I buy Ore-Ida brand because they do state on their website that their tots are both kosher and vegan. Peta also lists them as vegan.

I like dipping my tots in BBQ sauce too. It’s the only way I’ll eat them.

You know… I have everything on hand to make this dish. I just might have to make myself a single serving. If I make an entire pan I’ll be stuck eating it for a week. Not that that would be a bad thing.

I think I’m in love with this dish and I haven’t even tried it. I think I’ll need to scale it down before I make it because I’ve never been able to convince my husband to eat trashy style casseroles and I’m not sure if I could be trusted with an entire 9×12 dish alone…must get more daiya.

YOU’RE the one with the awesome brownie recipe!!! I am your new biggest fan! You totally nailed the brownie in your veganmofo post! I am honored you commented here and yes, I had the shepherd pie in mind when I was making this casserole. But I still don’t think it would be up to snuff as far as Keith Richards is concerned.

Bekki,

Yeah, it’s really hard to not gorge on this. I should have made a half batch if for no other reason than it would fit into the fridge better.

Joelle/Kath,

Before we got Daiya locally, I ordered it in 5 pound bags from Vegan Essentials online. I think it would be best to order this type of thing in the winter so it doesn’t overheat in a truck.

Sue Mac, I’m sure it’s not the healthiest dish but what the hell. It hits the spot when you need it. You should also go try my quickie not-chicken n’ dumplings. Did you know the original Bisquick is vegan? Not healthy but vegan nonetheless.

So yummy! My fellas favorite dish is the tater tot casserole, so when we changed to the vegan lifestyle it was sad to let go of our favorite foods, but this was so delish! We can enjoy our tots again! Thank you so much. The only thing we did differently was cook the tots a little first so they were extra crispy!

I made this again last week to use for my work lunches and one thing I’d recommend: don’t eat this every day for 5 days in a row unless you’re also eating lots of greens or otherwise getting more fiber in your diet. Yeah, it will plug you up over the long haul and even 2 cups of coffee won’t help ;-P

Why yes, most of the time. It would depend on the brand I suppose. I haven’t found one that isn’t so far. Just read the label. Of course, they’re not all organic and such so again, gotta read the label.

Made this tonight. Topped half with sweet potato tots. Used broccoli and cauliflower and almond milk rather than soy. My kids loved it!! Two thumbs up. Thank you for a great vegan, kid-friendly recipe!!!

Another great comfy ad-lib that lives on the tater tot family tree is Fried Onions. Seriously, if you want to pacify your non-vegans, put these in/atop anything and even everything. Adds so much texture and flavor. I like to add them on top of egg(less) salad open-faced sandwiches, in particular. But, great where you might use croutons, for example, with extra flavor. (Bonus if you can find them without palm oil.)

I just would like to say that i found this recipe on a whim because i was participating in a casserole-off (competition for the best casserole) and i came in SECOND PLACE. BOOM! it was the ONLY vegan dish — the only vegetarian dish at that. every other dish had meat. people came up to me and stated that they were hesitant to tell me but they loved it. it probably could have come in first…

PS — i added Hot Sauce (and would have added jalepenos if i prepared) and it made it SO GOOD. if you like the spice – DO IT.

Wow! That’s totally groovy news! I’m so thrilled the recipe worked so well for you. If you can remember, I’d love to know which hot sauce you added and how you incorporated it. Did you mix it with the sauce or just sprinkle it about? I recently bought some hot stuff and am having fun trying it in everything.

i used about 2 tablespoons of RED HOT just thrown about — you know with that stuff it just depends how hot you like it… it really doesn’t make it too spicy, just gives it that extra flavor… last night i made it again and added sriracha sauce and just did a zig zag across the top – it got devoured!!!! and i mean every last bit was taken – by people that swear against vegan…